Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Dead Economy’ Jab Backfires After S&P Upgrade

• S&P Global Ratings upgraded India’s long-term credit rating to ‘BBB’ from ‘BBB-‘.
• The upgrade directly contradicted Rahul Gandhi’s recent “dead economy” comment.
• S&P cited buoyant economic growth, averaging 8.8% over the past three years, as the reason for the upgrade.

GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 14th Aug: S&P Global Ratings has upgraded its long-term sovereign credit rating on India to ‘BBB’ from ‘BBB-‘, a move that has drawn massive jeers from the BJP and undermined Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s recent claim that India is a “dead economy.”

The upgrade, the first in 18 years, reflects India’s “buoyant economic growth, against the backdrop of an enhanced monetary policy environment that anchors inflationary expectations,” S&P said. The agency highlighted that India’s real GDP growth has averaged 8.8% from fiscal 2022 to 2024, the highest in the Asia-Pacific region, and projected that growth dynamics would continue at 6.8% annually over the next three years.

This upgrade directly contradicts Rahul Gandhi, who had agreed with US President Donald Trump’s comment that India and Russia could take their “dead economies down together.” Gandhi had told reporters, “He is right, everybody knows this except the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister. I am glad that President Trump has stated a fact.”

The BJP quickly seized on the S&P report, questioning why Gandhi “roots for failure.” The comment had also unleashed a political storm within the Congress party, with senior leaders like Shashi Tharoor and Rajiv Shukla giving dissenting views and defending the strength of the Indian economy.

S&P concluded that the Indian economy’s recent performance highlights its “historical resilience” and a stronger corporate and financial sector than before the pandemic. It also noted that the impact of recently imposed US tariffs is expected to be “limited” due to India’s large and resilient domestic consumption base.